Heart of Wales

Drivers Eye View

Swansea - Llandrindod – Shrewsbury: One of Britain’s scenic railways to have survived the ravages of time is the Heart of Wales.

As the name suggests, this rural line meanders right through the Welsh Heartland, retaining the atmosphere of a rural cross-country branch line.

The normal journey actually takes around 4 hours, so we have condensed this into a video of just 1½ hours of the most interesting and scenic sections.

These include the departure from Swansea, the 1 in 52 climb up to Cockett Tunnel, the reversal at Llanelli and the double line from there to Morlais Junction.

Nowadays the route is signalled entirely from Pantyffynnon Box, and here we see the line’s last remaining semaphores.

Our single car class 153 unit then tackles the famous bank up to Sugar Loaf Tunnel.

We de-train at both Llanwrtyd and Llandrindod Wells for a brief look at these typical spa towns.

Viaducts witnessed from the cab include Cynghordy and Knucklas (illustrated on the jacket) as well as the new Glanrhyd Bridge - replacing the original which collasped during flooding in 1987.

Finally at Craven Arms we join the former LNWR / GWR joint line from Hereford for a semaphore-signalled run into Shrewsbury.